The impact of unpaid caring is closely related to the intensity of the care provision.[1,2,3] Carers within the same household are more likely to provide longer hours of care and more personal care task such as dressing or bathing. Longer hours and personal care responsibilities are associated with poorer psychological and physical health.[1,2,3,4,5,6] This could be due to the notion of not being able to ‘switch off’ the caring duties and have no time for respite or to manage their own health. It is important to focus on carers with high level of care, as they are likely to need further support.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, carers reported disruptions in their caring responsibilities with some reporting increased care but reduced support.[7] Many reported lower wellbeing, financial difficulties (relying on foodbanks) and lack of respite opportunities. [7,8,9,10] Those that did have access to formal care, were worried about infection control but many reported cancellation or postponement of NHS procedures/treatments for themselves and the person they are caring for. [7,8]. Organisations such as Future Care Capital and Carers UK recognised the need to value their contributions and better support them going forward, particularly with their own health needs. [7,11].
However, as prior studies have stipulated, it is important to make a distinction between different caring intensity to fully capture the complex impact of caring. Without such distinction, the needs of carers with high care level (based on caring intensity) may not be fully captured.
Source: Understanding Society Data set, Wave 10 (2018/19) and COVID-19 sub study Waves 6 (November 2020) and 7 (January 2021)
For the COVID-19 data, wave 6 and wave 7 data set was linked but for individuals who participated in both waves, the most available data was retained.
Unpaid carers during the pandemic were identified if they answered yes to one of the following:
Unpaid carers pre pandemic were identified if they answered yes to one of the following:
Level of care is defined as follows:
Weighted estimates:
All estimates provided have accounted for non-response, sampling probabilities and the sampling design of the Understanding Society Survey. We used the cross-sectional weights provided unless when comparing pre-pandemic, we used the longitudinal weights provided.
All code can be found on github
[1] Future Care Capital. A forgotten army, coping as a carer. Published Online First 2019. https://futurecarecapital.org.uk/latest/joel-charles-unpaid-carers-are-the-backbone-of-our-society-their-priorities-should-be-our-priorities/
[2] Bom J, Bakx P, Schut F, van Doorslaer E. 2019. The Impact of Informal Caregiving for Older Adults on Health of various types of caregivers: A systematic Review. The Gerontologist 59(5). https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny137
[3] Bom J, Stöckel J. Is the grass greener on the other side? The health impact of providing informal care in the UK and the Netherlands. 2021. Social Science & Medicine 269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113562
[4] Lacey R, McMunn A, Webb E. Informal caregiving and mental health. 2018. Psychological Medicine 49 (10)https://doi:10.1017/S0033291718002222
[5] EuroCarers. The Impact of Caregiving on Informal carers’ mental and physical health.[https://eurocarers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Eurocarers-mental-and-physical-health_final.pdf] (https://eurocarers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Eurocarers-mental-and-physical-health_final.pdf)
[6] Carers UK. Caring behind closed doors: six months on. Published Online First: 2020.http://www.carersuk.org/images/News_and_campaigns/Behind_Closed_Doors_2020/Caring_behind_closed_doors_Oct20.pdf
[7] BENNETT MR, ZHANG Y, YEANDLE S. Caring and COVID-19: hunger and mental wellbeing. Care Matters Ser 2020;:16.http://circle.group.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Caring-and-COVID-19_Hunger-and-mental-wellbeing-2.pdf
[8] Bennett MR, Zhang Y, Yeandle S. Caring and COVID-19 - Loneliness and use of services. Care Matters Series Published Online First: 2020.http://circle.group.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/CARING-and-COVID-19-Loneliness-and-use-of-services_04.08.20.pdf
[9] Lorenz-Dant K, Comas-Herrera A. Pre-print: The impacts of COVID-19 on unpaid carers of adults with long-term care needs and measures to address these impacts: a rapid review of the available evidence (2021). https://ltccovid.org/2021/01/15/pre-print-the-impacts-of-covid-19-on-unpaid-carers-of-adults-with-long-term-care-needs-and-measures-to-address-these-impacts-a-rapid-review-of-the-available-evidence/
[10] Gallagher, Stephen, and Mark A. Wetherell. 2020. Risk of Depression in Family Caregivers: Unintended Consequence of COVID-19. BJPsych Open 6 (6). Royal College of Psychiatrists. (https://doi:10.1192/bjo.2020.99)[https://doi:10.1192/bjo.2020.99]
[11]Allen G: We must not forget those everyday heroes, the unpaid carers. Future Care Capital Published Online First: 2021 https://futurecarecapital.org.uk/latest/we-must-not-forget-those-everyday-heroes-the-unpaid-carers/
This analysis explores the change in caring status during the pandemic.
Summary:
In this analysis, sandwich carers are defined as people aged 16 to 70 who have at least one child in their household under 16 years old and are also providing unpaid care.This is similar to the definition used by the ONS on their analysis of unpaid carers
Summary:
Previous studies have reported that carers during the pandemic have a higher risk of depressive symptoms.[11] Using the same methodology to measure mental health, this analysis is reports on carers’ mental health during the second half of the pandemic.
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